Collaboration
by ironicallynameless
Summary: Blane and Daisy rejoin the team, but reunions aren't always easy. Secrets are discovered, relationships are tested, loyalties questioned but are the team seeing the bigger picture? A sequel of sorts to Exposure, please R&R.
1. Reunion

**Hurrah (to be cried with an overly British voice) a sequel of sorts! Well 'tis only a sequel in that if you haven't read **_**'Exposure'**_** you won't really know Mia's story. Anyways I'm writing this a. because I have two months of nothingness to fill and b. because there seems to be a slight demand for a bit of Blane and Daisy, and I do so like to please. So yes I have been wracking my tiny little mind for some sort of a story and have formed a sort of plan, unfortunately that plan is not quite complete so I'm writing this without really knowing where I'm going – not to put you off or anything. I do know that I'm gonna try and make the whole thing a bit more realistic (who actually gets the changing into a uniform while in a lift thing?) and a little more mature (moving away from SKUL and more to things like terrorists – real world threats). Which may mean that'll it'll end up not very close to the actual show, sorry. I think it's gonna be a bit less action and a bit more relationship than my first fic, to start with at least. I am trying to write in third person and the past tense, a little out of my comfort zone so please bear with me :) OK wow, huge A/N, so what else is there to stay, erm yes, this is a rather long first chapter, they won't all be this long and I can't promise hugely regular updates they may be a little sporadic (love that word) though I'll try not to be. So anyways read, enjoy (hopefully), message me ideas and please review coz it really helps. That's it, *puts hands over face and peeps through fingers* a brand new fic is started.**

**El x

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It was five o'clock on Wednesday afternoon and the four young MI9 agents couldn't be bothered to make their ways home. They'd gone down to HQ after school for a quick chat with Frank, the country had been rather...safe recently and they hadn't properly spoken to their mentor in weeks. After he'd excused himself with a mutter of "Bloody year nines and their spray cans..." the teens had lingered, no real reason to go home. Now Rose sat at one of the computers, idly surfing the MI9's extensive collection of research papers; few but her would find such a pastime enjoyable, but then again there really was few like her. Carrie was also using the MI9 computers, but playing Tetris doesn't quite have the same intellectual merits that Rose's choice of pastime had. Oscar and the newest member of the team, his girlfriend Mia were supposedly doing French homework. Surprisingly the thrill of irregular conjugations hadn't enthralled them and the conversation had drifted slightly,

"So what's the worst injury you've ever got?"

"I broke my leg once, which was pretty painful"

"How did you do it, no let me guess, erm... fall out of a moving vehicle in the middle of a high speed chase? Get it broken by some skul thug as you fought to save the country?"

"No, I fell off the top of a bunk bed and landed awkwardly."

"Oh."

Oscar laughed and shoved his girlfriend lightly, "You really got to stop expecting these dangerous missions out of me, I'm surveillance, I'm_ supposed_ to blend into the background."

Suddenly the lift doors slid opened and two figures stepped out. Oscar glanced up, expecting a returning Frank, and so was startled to see two strangers instead. In one fluid movement he got up and placed himself directly in front of Mia. Mia sighed, quite used to her boyfriend's overprotective tendencies by now.

"Who are you?" Oscar demanded, leaving niceties aside. In fairness this was probably justified, strangers breaking into an apparently secure room would put any agent on red alert.

Upon hearing Oscar's question Rose tore her eyes away from the computer screen, and let out a gasp, before answering Oscar's question as she ran over to the strangers an embraced them in succession, saying, "Blane, Daisy!?". Upon hearing the names Oscar and Carrie exchanged glances, recognising them as Rose's previous colleagues.

Having had enough of being hidden behind Oscar's back Mia stepped around him and boldly walked up to the visitors, much to the annoyance of Oscar who was far from trusting when it came to the safety of his girlfriend. She introduced herself a little more formally than Rose, shaking each of their hands in turn and saying, "Hi, I'm Mia". She smiled, and as a few seconds passed, decided to introduce her colleagues as well.

"This is Oscar" upon hearing his name Oscar walked over to greet the newcomers, a look of mistrust still lingering on his face. "He's our-" As Oscar shook Blane's hand, Blane interrupted, "Combat expert, I'm guessing." His tone was friendly but there was a slight hint of challenge in his eyes.

"No, I specialise in surveillance and undercover work actually."

Blane took this in, before laughing, "So you have a girl to do your fighting for you!" This statement earned him an elbow in the ribs from Daisy as she hissed, "Blane!" Blane Whittaker was not overly sexist, however he did hold the belief that fighting was something guys should do; girls could fight, but guys were better. He was perhaps a little surprised by what followed. His left arm was grabbed and pinned painfully behind his back, while at the same time his right arm was taken and pressed against his own neck. Then, as he guessed his attacker was a little shorter than him, he was forced to bend backwards slightly, rendering him completely unable to move let alone fight back. A light, chirpy, yet disturbingly menacing voice whispered in his ear, "Not just any girl, me." As suddenly as she had captured him she released him, took his hand and shook, saying, "I'm Carrie by the way." She smiled sweetly and shook Daisy's hand, quickly diffusing any tension that her actions had caused. Blane was left feeling slightly humiliated, flexing his wrists and muttering something about not being prepared under his breath.

Oscar had pulled up some chairs and Rose now gestured for them to sit. Daisy sat down first, with Blane to the left of her, across from them Carrie, Rose, Oscar and Mia sat in a line, trying to avoid looking in anyway confrontational ... and failing. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Mia, who had become quite brazen since joining the agency, leant forward and asked, "So," she addressed Blane and Daisy, "From Rose's reaction and Oscar and Carrie's glances, you're friends of Rose, previous colleagues, maybe?" Daisy answered with a nod, a little shocked at Mia's keen observational skills. Rose, Carrie and Oscar were not as surprised, reading people had proved to be a talent of Mia's, and was part of the reason why she'd been asked to join the agency. "But what do you guys specialise in, and more importantly, why are you here?"

"And how, that scanner's programmed to only recognise Frank's and our thumbprints?" Oscar couldn't help but ask.

"Well," Daisy began to speak, Blane was still recovering from the hurt to his pride, "I'm a specialist in undercover work, like Oscar," She flashed him a smile and Oscar absentmindedly put his arm around Mia. Guessing the hidden meanings in his action Daisy quickly looked away and, a little flustered, continued speaking, " Blane is our muscle man, as you can probably guess" she rolled her eyes, silently apologising for her colleagues outburst. "As for what we're doing here, well all we've been told is that we're supposed to be working with you, though judging from your reactions, you haven't heard about it and weren't expecting us. Oh and the scanner still had our thumbprints in the memory, we got in the same way we always do, just like you."

"How could the scanner ever forget you Daisy," Rose chuckled, obviously happy to see her friends again. "How have you been, how's training going?

Daisy's eyes were clouded, "Training...? Oh err, well that's not quite right you see-"

She was interrupted by the sound of the lift doors sliding across to reveal Frank deep in conversation with an attractive young woman, dressed in a smart tailored suit and heels, her auburn hair tied neatly in a ponytail.

"Ah team, I see you've already met Blane and Daisy, well this is Ms Beaumont, their mentor. I know this is all rather out of the blue, but I was just as surprised as you, apparently the briefing failed to arrive, some fault in communications, it's a good job you all decided to stay, the matter at hand is quite pressing, but I'll let Ms Beaumont explain." Frank seemed a little flustered as he spoke, causing him to speak much faster and incomprehensibly than usual. The team did not question Frank's apparent distraction, though they did not for one minute assume it had anything to do with a certain rather attractive colleague, Frank was far too much of a professional for that. He turned and facing the woman introduced his agents in turn, "This is Rose, our technical expert" Rose stood and shook the woman's hand muttering "Nice to meet you" as she did so. Frank introduced: Oscar - "Surveillance and undercover technician"; Carrie - "combat expert" and Mia - "Our recent addition, a rather gifted psychoanalysist in training"; similarly and they each shook the woman's hands with equal grace. After this the woman stood and began to speak in a soft voice with an air-hostess-smile pasted on her face, "Well it's lovely to meet you all and I look forward to working with you over the next couple of weeks. Can I start by asking you to call me Christine, Daisy and Blane do, and I'm sure you don't call Frank here Mr London now do you?" The agents shook their head in response, they'd never called Frank Mr London, and were hardly going to refuse the offer of equality, in names at least, from another superior. "So," Christine continues, her smile now even wider that the agents had agreed to her request, " to the mission" It was as if the smiling mother figure of a few moments ago had completely disappeared as Christine took on an altogether more official tone and strode over to one of the computers with confidence. She quickly opened up the mission file on the computer, her perfectly manicured fuchsia talons clacking against the keys, Rose wondered for a moment how she knew the systems password, but was soon more interested in the mission at hand. A photograph of a teenage boy appeared on screen, brown hair slicked to his head he wore an expensive looking suit and smiled lazily for the camera.

"Guillaume Lefevre." Oscar muttered with impeccable pronunciation.

Christine looked slightly startled, and nodded her head vigorously in agreement, "Yes, quite, son of the president of France," she paused to see if Oscar could also provide the answer to this.

"Sébastien Marc Lefevre." Oscar duly supplied.

"Quite the Francophile aren't we?" The retort was sharp and Christine seemed to realise this too late and she quickly let out a slight giggle to cover her frustration.

Oscar merely shrugged, "I like to know what's going on around me, helps me to get into cover better."

Mia, sensing the tension in the room, brought the conversation back on track, "So we've established that this dude is the French president's son, but what has he got to do with us?"

Christine replied "MI9 recently received information from France about a terrorist threat to the country, specifically to the president and his family. For some reason the French authorities are taking this threat very seriously, and while they cannot let the French president go into hiding for political reasons, Sébastien wants his son safe and has requested our help in doing this. The agency has decided to put Guillaume into your care, using the cover of a French exchange student. "

Here Blane interrupted, "Surely if you want him safe you'd just stick him in a safe house with a stack load of security?"

Christine replied, "Ahh well one would think so, however," she made air quotation marks, " sticking him in a safe house with a stack load of security, as you so eloquently put it Blane would make avoiding unwanted terrorist and press attention very difficult. Here if we play on the fact that very few people are quite as aware of French politics as Oscar here, and we dye Guillaume's hair, no one will doubt the story, so publicity can be averted. Also the agency feel this would be less damaging to the boys mental health which the French authorities have asked us to take into due consideration. So to summarise in a week Guillaume Lefevre will arrive at St Hopes as Oscar's pen pal Théodore Rousseau. Blane and Carrie will work together to ensure he has round the clock protection without drawing any attention to your selves. Oscar and Mia will be charged with the responsibility of making sure he is happy – don't forget this mission is key to inter-country relations, we send him back at all disturbed and we have the whole of France to answer to. Rose you need to make sure that his identity remains secret and intercept any form of tracking device sent out by the terrorists. Finally Daisy it will be your responsibility to maintain contact with the French authorities; under cover of course, so that you're identity and therefore location is not given away through an intercepted transmission."

The speech efficiently repressed all questions , all that is but one. Carrie, who after her earlier performance had remained uncharacteristically silent simply asked, "Well that's all well and good, but still, no offence, why the hell are _you _here?"


	2. Confession

**Hey, so not too long a wait I hope. This chapter is way shorter, but I thought it was quite a good finish point – I do love a good cliffy, (do people even say cliffy, or have I made that up). Um yup, so I was thinking that I have a hell of a lot of OCs, but you know, I haven't got a huge amount of people to work with, and I need some of the characters for the sake of the plot, but please tell me if you think any of them are becoming too Mary-sue-ish. Also if I slip up on the whole past tense thing please don't hesitate to point out, I keep slipping into present tense for some reason unbeknownst to me. Ooh and before I forget, I didn't do a disclaimer for my first chapter...well the truth is I don't need a disclaimer because I do actually own the rights to MI high, in fact my fic is the rough plot for series four, just thought I'd give y'all a sneak preview...I'm telling the truth...honest...**

**El x**

_I've just realised that my disclaimer probably wouldn't stand up in court, so I'm gonna say that I don't own anything down her in italics so hopefully nobody will notice.

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There was a moment of shocked silence, no-one in the room quite prepared for Carrie's bluntness. Christine soon recovered and with a warm, yet ever so slightly patronising smile simply said, "The agency decided to inspect both teams simultaneously," registering Carrie's bemused look Christine continued, "budget cuts, it's all about the money." She sighed wistfully, though the smile never slipped from her face. However after a few seconds as Carrie's confused look didn't disappear, the smile became a little bemused too, and Christine queried, "You knew about the inspection, right?"

Before Carrie could reply Mia stepped in, "Of course, we're just a little shocked it came so soon, but I guess it makes sense," she smiled, adeptly changing the subject, "so where are you staying?"

"The agency housing facility, I believe one of you lives there?"

"Yeah that would be me," Oscar stepped forward, unconsciously scratching the back of his neck and looking down at the floor he mumbled, "I could err, take you there if you like."

Blane answered, keen to show his worth, "Nah, you're alright mate, I know this city like the back of my hand, I'll take the girls there."

Christine smirked at Blane, "Girl am I? Tsch, that's no way to address your superior, but I'll take you up on the offer oh wise pathfinder, we'll leave the guys to it and go get settled in now you've all been introduced," hooking her arm in Daisy's she called, "we'll see you tomorrow," to Frank and his team before saying, "lead on MacDuff!" Blane bid them farewell with a mere nod in their general direction, while Daisy strained to wave goodbye over her shoulder.

Within moments they had disappeared in the lift and Oscar muttered, "Sheesh mood swing or what, glad she's not our mentor." Before picking up the slight hostility in the air and joining the girls as they rounded on Frank.

"Inspection?" Rose asked incredulously, arms folded.

"What inspection?" Asked Carrie with a little more hostility as she advanced slowly on Frank.

"Care to enlighten us Frank?" Mia's normally light tone was edged with menace.

"Yeah Frank." Oscar added, trying in vain not to sound like a school girl and compensating by rising to his full height to look as intimidating as possible.

Frank would never admit it, but he was a little scared, he could not forget that here were four rather pissed off and highly trained teenagers, in a room where no-one could hear his screams... He was brought back to reality by Carrie's sudden close proximity, and weakly raised his hands in surrender.

"Look, it's not what you think, yes I heard talk of an inspection," he paused for breath but quickly continued when he saw the lack of patience in Carrie's eyes, "But there were no definite plans, and I certainly didn't get any information through from HQ, I'm sorry." Frank lowered his head dejectedly, almost afraid to look up. He stole a quick glance to see a smiling team, and raised his head completely, a little bewildered.

"S'alright Frank" Oscar slapped him on the back, "you weren't to know, obviously another communication fault, no worries."

"Yeah," Carrie joined in, "It's not as if we've got anything to worry about, we're a great team, and you're a great mentor, even if you do live in a world of your own sometimes." She joked.

Mia nudged him, "You're forgiven."

Frank grinned at his team, and had an uncanny urge to initiate a group hug, thinking better of it he ushered them over to the chairs where they sat in a small circle. "But why exactly are we being inspected Frank? We only just had our routine system check, and we made the necessary changes for that."

The changes Rose was referring to was mainly the removal of the uniform-change function of the lift; the technicians hadn't actually managed to figure out how Frank had engineered it, but removed it anyway, deeming it unnecessary and a little weird. In fact the uniform had been removed entirely, apparently it wasn't actually an agency requirement, just another one of Frank's 'little touches', a hassle the team were quite honestly glad to be rid of. There'd also been an addition to the group as a result of the inspector's report, a certain Mrs Wilkes, who had been taken on as the school secretary after the previous unexpectedly handed in her notice. Doris, as she was affectionately referred to by the team, came in very useful when it came to covering the agent's absences, allowing the whole operation to run much smoother. The final change had been that of a modernisation to the communication systems, some agency bright spark had realised that flashing pencils were perhaps a little noticeable and they'd been replaced with much less noticeable pens which, along with the usual functions, had an additional microphone, torch and high powered laser – much to Oscar's delight.

Franks eyes were troubled, and he seemed reluctant to answer Rose's question. Mia, sensing this, gently put her hand on his arm and urged him on as she said quietly, "Frank?"

He sighed defeated, "I didn't want to say anything until I had some sort of confirmation, but," he paused taking time to look each of his prized agents in turn, "apparently they're considering terminating the youth agent project."


	3. Explanation

**Hey, so I'm really sorry for the late update, everything's been kind of hectic, and I can't really promise to update any quicker, start of sixth form n'all. So this chapter is really quite boring, (not to put you off or anything) just a load of stuff that needs to be said, which means loads of dialogue coz I can't think of another way to 'convey the necessary information' (howls that for sounding-like-I-know-what-I'm-talking-about?!)**

**Anyways please read, rate, enjoy...?**

**El x

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For the second time that afternoon there was a slightly shocked silence. It was, of course, far from what the young spies had expected; and the silence deepened as attacks of self doubt paralysed them now that they understood the true consequences of the failure of this task. It was a credit to their modesty that not a single one of the individuals reacted to this sudden, and possibly unfair, ultimatum in anger.

Oscar was the first to speak, keen to ensure he understood the situation fully, "So what you're saying is that if we fail this inspection we'll be kicked out of the agency, and the whole sector will be closed down?"

"Yes." Frank said bluntly, a resigned look on his face.

The silence intruded once more, as if the teens had learned of their fate all over again.

This time it was Carrie who broke the silence, snapping her head up to gaze at her team mates with a grin on her face. "So what!" she exclaimed, bemusing her friends with her apparent nonchalance to the fate of the career they all held dear. She went on though, "so what if they _talk_ about shutting us down, they're not actually gonna do it are they? Come on, when have we ever failed a mission? Who says we're gonna start now?"

Her enthusiasm was infectious and slow smiles were beginning to spread through the room.

"We'll ace the mission, give old frenchie the time of his life, placate the politics and remain professional at all times – like usual." Not certain her colleagues were completely convinced she continued, "Oh come on, think about, this mission is one of our easiest yet, we've got to baby-sit a French teen, we've got to act _normal_, it's more like a holiday than an assignment. Mia gets a victim to try out her psycho-ness on, Oscar gets to babble away in French and Rose gets to muck about with surveillance software. To top it off we've got Blane and Daisy with us, who are bound to make the whole thing more fun!" Carrie collapsed into a chair dramatically, gasping, "Are you in?"

There was a pause before Rose, her grin now equally wide as Carrie's collapsed on top of Carrie laughing, "I'm in." She was quickly followed by Mia and Oscar, and Frank looked on, smiling serenely as the teens attempted to suffocate Carrie, and wondering why he ever signed up to work with them.

~*~

Sometime later, when the group had sufficiently recovered, Carrie almost needing an oxygen mask to do so, the questioning began.

"So I'm guessing Blane and Daisy are being assessed with us for sake of ease, but why only them?" Mia asked, taking a swig of coke and wordlessly passing it to Oscar.

"Well there is another reason," Frank replied, which sparked interest in the group; Oscar looked at frank expectantly, managing to pass the bottle without breaking his gaze. "The agency wants to observe your basic agent skills-"

Rose understood, "-and one of those is the ability to adapt to new situations and people." She finished.

"Exactly" Frank continued, "And the simple reason why it is Blane and Dasiy alone is that there is only them and you to be inspected."

This fact took the agents by surprise, Rose remembered the team of agents they had once called 'the others' a motley group of ex-convicts, whom she knew had been discharged some time ago now, but she thought surely there must be more like them somewhere.

Oscar too was confused, it was really only a few years since he himself had trained in an academy full of future youth agents, and he voiced these thoughts.

"Ahh yes," Frank mused, "You see you really do not know how lucky you all are to be here, the others that studied with you will probably work for the agency one day, but must wait until they come of age to join, and then will only start in a very low position." By this time the bottle had reached Frank and he duly took a sip, and passed it back to Mia before continuing, "Agents have not been scouted, like you," he nodded at Carrie, "or enrolled from agency families, like you, "he nodded towards Rose, for a few years now."

Mia interrupted, "Then what about me?"

"An exception to the rule, in the circumstances the agency decided that as a result of your agency knowledge, skills and relationship with the team, it would be best to allow you into the team, lucky for us." Frank smiled warmly.

Mia returned the smile and Oscar discreetly squeezed her hand.

"So you see the seven of you are truly unique, to have reached such a superior role so quickly is something that makes you envied by many other agents."

Franks eyes were temporarily clouded but Rose distracted him, "I still don't understand, I thought Blane and Daisy have been away training other young agents?"

Frank now looked remorseful and he turned to face Rose fully, "And I am sorry to have deceived you. They have in fact been part of a new initiative in which youth agents are used in consultation, moving from department to department as they are needed. I was forbidden from telling you as the agency felt," here frank hung his head in shame, "that you would feel envious and it would affect your work here."

Rose simply smiled and rolled her eyes, it was what they expected of a hormonal teenager but she was much more mature than she was given credit for.

Before frank had a chance to explain himself further, Carrie asked another question, "but why exactly are they considering firing us in the first place?"

Frank sighed deeply and his eyes became once more clouded, "Politics." He stopped and started again as if correcting himself for being unjust, "No, no it is to do with politics but behind it a genuine concern for your welfare. Recently there's been a lot of pressure from the minister of child welfare, and people like Stephen Woods, have jumped on the bandwagon. They've been trying to get rid of you for ages but to excuse their prejudice with concern for your welfare, it's perfect."

Oscar could not help but think bitterly of the man who had caused them so much trouble within the agency, purely because of their age. Woods' constant remarks about the team's lack of ability were, Oscar thought, mostly to cover up his own ineptitude.

The agents were a little surprised when Frank continued, "and in a way they're right," he went on to explain, "I mean when was the last time you lot had a holiday, without being called home early, or had a night off without having to worry about some terrorist threat, or sat through an entire lesson, without having to disappear halfway through. The agency is robbing you of your childhood."

"Hey, hey, hey less of the child and the robbing, the agency didn't steal anything from us, we gave it up because we wanted to," Rose spoke for everyone as she said, "Those thing are a small price to pay for all this," she gestured around her, "the excitement, the adventure, the chance to make a difference, the chance to feel as if you fit in. Sheesh I know it sound corny but you gave us a whole new family, and with it a purpose, something to work for."

"And the gadgets" Oscar added.

Frank smiled, "Well I'm glad you feel so passionately, it wouldn't harm to show the inspector a bit of that passion, let them know how much you need them and how much they need you, do that and they can't kick you out."

"But you know," Mia mused quietly, a small smirk on her face, "There are some things I wouldn't miss…"

Carrie continued, "Yeah like you after a 12-hour shift with no coffee!" she pointed a mocking finger at Frank.

"And the fitness assessments," Rose groaned.

"All the excuses" Oscar offered

"Bruises" Carrie added

"Thugs and crazy Italian dudes" Mia grimaced remembering all too clearly her very first mission.

"Yeah, compared to that this mission will be a real doddle" Rose laughed.

"Like I said easiest mission yet" Carrie replied.

"Famous last words" muttered Oscar, though the smile never left his face.


	4. Inspection

**So this is a short chapter and a long wait – double sorry. But I need to say honestly that I'm unsure whether I'll carry this on, it will be a lot more short updates and long gaps if I do, but I will carry on if there are people who would like to read more (and though this will sound like a lame cry for reviews) if you would want to read more could you please review, message, whatever. **

**Ta very much, as ever hope you enjoy and please R&R**

**El x

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Arthur Foreman never intended to become a spy. Ever since he was a child he had wished only to follow in his father's footsteps and work in an office. He couldn't quite place what exactly he found so exciting about a freshly refilled stapler or describe why the scent of printer ink was so appealing, but he had always known that he would find satisfaction in no other job. However life took an unexpected turn for Arthur when he chanced upon some classified files; as all good clerks would he found the source of the files returned them to their original folder and contacted the organisation that had lost them, a certain M.I.9. Now Arthur would never admit it, but he did all this with amazing speed, efficiency and confidentiality, skills which the agency instantly recognised in him. And so that was why, seven years later, Arthur Foreman found himself, a senior intelligence clerk for MI9, waiting in a school reception to be met by the caretaker.

~*~

Daisy stood in the elevator, tapping her foot, the high speed lift not quick enough for her today. As doors opened she burst through, exclaiming loudly, "I'm so sorry I'm late, I had History with Mr Franklin – you know the old one who smells like cabbage – and he kept me back at the end of the lesson, and was all like "Abigail" – he never could remember my name "Millar, I haven't seen you since Tudors in year seven" so I had to do the whole year in France thing and he was like-"

"That's quite alright Daisy, Mr Foreman has only just arrived himself" Daisy's mentor stepped in, silently reminding her that the inspector had arrived. Daisy followed Christine's subtle gestures and took in the small man sat at the side of the room, pen and paper in hand. A light blush appeared on Daisy's cheeks as she realised what a bad first impression she'd just made and she made to go towards him before stopping, looking over her shoulder to check that this was the right thing to do. At Christine's signal she stepped forward and held out her hand to the man, introducing herself formally, "Nice to meet you, I'm Daisy Millar, undercover and surveillance operative".

Blane and Rose shared twin smirks at hearing Daisy refer to herself as an 'undercover and surveillance operative' formal titles wasn't really her thing.

The man looked up as she spoke, pushed his glasses back up his nose and shook Daisy's hand, replying, "Arthur Foreman" with a thin but not unkind smile.

Introductions complete, Daisy slid into a chair next to Oscar at a large boardroom table that had been temporarily installed at HQ. As Daisy sat down Oscar leant over and whispered in her ear, "I'd turn your phone off if I were you, this inspector dude's a sucker for correct procedure". Daisy whispered back her thanks with a smile and, as she bent to turn off her phone, couldn't help but see Blane watching, a small frown on his face.

Frank stood up at the head of the table, "Right well now you're all here and you've all been introduced to Mr Foreman we can begin." There was a small cough from the side of the room, "Oh, yes and Mr Foreman would like me to ask you to act completely normally and ignore his presence entirely, he will be observing you for the duration of this assignment and needs to build a true picture of the way we work, so, no charades please." At this Blane muttered, "In that case then…" and proceeded to loosen his tie, slouch back in his chair and out his feet up.

"Ha, yes very funny Blane, when I said no charades, I didn't mean for you to stop pretending to be civilised."

Blane rolled his eyes and grinned at his team mates before reluctantly taking his feet off the table.

"To business then. As you are all aware Guillaume will be arriving tomorrow, Oscar and Christine will be meeting him from the plane. I want Blane and Carrie to be positioned outside the airport in case back up is required and Rose I want the standard surveillance kit so we can have eyes and ears back here at HQ. Mia and Daisy I want you at the agency house to meet Guillaume, Mia you're visiting Oscar, Daisy you're obviously staying there already, I do not want you to talk to each other at all in there, no need for anyone to know you're connected…"

And so it went on, the seven of them discussed planned and argued every last detail, before setting up a secure video conference with the French authorities to start the whole process again. In all the chaos of arranging their French VIP's visit, the small man in the corner was very easily forgotten.


End file.
